Research at Harlem, NY Campus

Harlem Laboratory Facilities

TouroCOM facilities on the Harlem campus currently include labs that support advanced research in:

Cancer Biology Research Laboratory

This laboratory is equipped with variety of laboratory equipment including centrifuges, refrigerators, freezers, electrophoresis equipment, water baths, tissue culture incubators, biohazard safety cabinets, microscopes, etc. The lab is also equipped for primary epithelial cell culture, tumor biology, animal work, biochemistry, and cell biology. Equipment includes a Bio Rad CFX96 real time PCR machine, Bio Rad T1000 thermocycler, Amaxa transfection system, Eppendorf Biospectromoter, Gene Pulser X-cell electroporator, and a Molecular Devices SpectraMax iD3 microplate reader.

Vivarium

The vivarium consists of one animal housing room for murine based experiments that require the in vivo component of colony monitoring and maintenance for data collection. It is equipped with a Thoren Caging Systems microsiolation cage rack to house the research colony and two Baker Company SterilGard biosafety cabinets, with access to a Consolidated Stills & Sterilzers pass through autoclave in a neighboring utility room for cage sterilization.

Research BioBank

This laboratory was established in 2011 in order to provide samples of fixed and frozen human tissues and fluids obtained and stored in a safe and ethical way. Those samples are acquired, processed and distributed to TouroCOM researchers for research projects on variety of human diseases and conditions where the human tissue is the sole source of information. This laboratory is equipped with -80deg C ultra-freezers, liquid nitrogen freezers, biosafety hoods, microscopes and a variety of small laboratory equipment.

Tissue Culture Laboratory

This laboratory is equipped with a full complement of equipment to establish, maintain and propagate cell and tissue cultures. It is equipped with Hepa-filtered bio-safety cabinets, CO2 incubators, hoods, microscopes, PCR equipment, liquid nitrogen cell storage tanks and three -80º centigrade ultra-freezers.

Pathology/Histology Laboratory

This laboratory is equipped as a full-service histological and immune-histochemical laboratory. It is equipped for dissecting, processing, sectioning and staining of any animal or human tissues. The major equipment includes automatic Dako Autostainer Plus for automated immune staining. two tissue processors, one for routine paraffin processing and another for processing for electron microscopy (Lynx II); paraffin embedding station, large microtomes that can section up to super-cassette size blocks, two cryostats – the Leica CM1950 and the Microm HM550 – for frozen sections, multiple flotation baths, a Cytospin 4 centrifuge, six Zeiss microscopes, ovens, and variety of smaller lab instrument and equipment.

Confocal Microscopy Laboratory

This laboratory is equipped with I90 Confocal Nikon Microscope. This microscope is equipped with three laser light sources (561,488, and 405 nm), confocal head, UV light source, high sensitivity camera, mechanized scanning stage and full complement of high-end optics.

Immunology Laboratory

This laboratory is equipped with a full complement of equipment for study of cellular and humoral immunity. Major equipment pieces are Hepa-filtered biosafety cabinets, refrigerated cell culture centrifuge, microscopes (upright and inverted), tissue culture CO2 incubators, liquid nitrogen storage tanks, ELISA plate reader and ELISA strip washer, Luminex BioAssay system, and BD FACSCelesta Flow Cytometer. Laboratory space rated for the study of BSL-2 level pathogens is available.